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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: #006600"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
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<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">KLAMATH
ISSUES:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Time runs out
for federal dollars on Klamath<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Capital Press –
Agricultural Weekly (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>) –
6/24/05<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face=Tahoma size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">By Tam <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moore</st1:place></st1:City>, staff
writer</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT color=#006600 size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; COLOR: #006600"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">YREKA, <st1:State w:st="on">Calif.</st1:State> – A
20-year program to restore <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>
fisheries is running out of time, and more specifically, money. But when the
Klamath River Fisheries Task Force met here last week, it got no guidance on the
future from either state or federal governments.<BR><BR>“I don’t think anybody
out there knows where we are going,” said John Engbring, a U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service executive from <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Sacramento</st1:place></st1:City> who is chairman of the task force, a
federal advisory committee.<BR><BR>Along with the 20-year-old authorization
aimed at managing anadromous fisheries on the main-stem Klamath, the law
assigned $1 million a year through 2006. That created a comprehensive
restoration plan, and supplements state and federal data collection on the
Klamath and its tributaries. <BR><BR>Glen Spain of Pacific Coast Federation of
Fishermen’s Association pointed out that there’s no sunset for the task force or
the companion Klamath Fish Management Council – just no money after next
year.<BR><BR>The larger issue is who’s coordinating Klamath issues that jumped
into the national spotlight in 2001 when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reneged
on its contract with Klamath Project irrigation districts. Water, short because
of drought, was reserved as habitat for three fish species under Endangered
Species Act protection. Farmers seized part of the ground holding the BuRec’s
main diversion point, gaining national publicity.<BR><BR>In addition to the task
force, there are federal advisory committees for the Trinity River, the
Klamath’s largest tributary, and the upper basin which lies mostly in <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>. There’s an
interstate compact between <st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State>,
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> and the
federal government, and a cabinet-level federal Klamath committee that hasn’t
met in months. On top of that, after the much-celebrated governor’s announcement
of a new state-federal Klamath group in 2004, it’s never held a public meeting
within the 10-million-acre watershed.<BR><BR>Irma Lagomarsino, the NOAA
Fisheries Klamath coordinator, told the task force solutions lie with the
stakeholders, perhaps using BuRec’s still-in-draft Conservation Implementation
Plan as the vehicle.<BR><BR>“If we don’t form some coalition of farmers and
environmentalists, and (American Indian) tribes, we aren’t going to get
anywhere,” said Alice Kilham, a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Klamath</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> businesswoman and chairman of the
compact commission.<BR><BR>She said the commission can’t meet. The <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State> representative
from Department of Water Resources can’t travel because state budgets aren’t
settled. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State> government, she said, seems
confused by the 2004 governor’s agreement added atop the federal task forces and
the compact.<BR><BR>Engbring said if it takes political action to resolve
funding, stakeholders must count out himself and other federal officials. By law
they can’t politick.<BR><BR>Keith Wilkinson of <st1:City w:st="on">Myrtle
Point</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Ore.</st1:State>, a long-time task force
member representing <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:State>’s commercial fishermen, said he gets no
interest in a legislative renewal.<BR><BR>“My congressman, he just kind of hopes
it will go away,” said Wilkinson.<BR><BR>While the future is murky both the task
force staff at USFWS and the congressional Government Accountability Office are
looking at what’s been accomplished in the past 20 years. GAO exit interviews
were last week and the report is expected to become public by late summer. The
USFWS achievement report comes out in the fall. #<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><A
href="http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=782&ArticleID=18005&TM=29636.04">http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=782&ArticleID=18005&TM=29636.04</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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